Wife petitions court over Movit boss arrest

KAMPALA. The family of the arrested Movit boss, Mr Simpson Birungi, has petitioned the High Court to order government to produce him in court immediately.

The family’s lawyer, Nyanzi, Kiboneka & Mbabazi Advocates, filed a habeas corpus in court after security personnel of Internal Security Organisation arrested Mr Birungi on June 7 on allegations of murder. He had been released on bond by police on similar charges. A habeas corpus application is made in court seeking a person under detention to be brought before a judge or magistrate especially to secure that person’s release.

The family wants court to compel the Director General of Internal Security Organisation (ISO), Inspector General of Police (IGP), Chief of Military Intelligence (CMI) and Attorney General (AG) to produce the businessman. In a sworn affidavit filed in court in support of the habeas corpus application, Ms Sheila Kyokusiima Birungi, the wife to Mr Birungi, said the acts of the security forces in continuing to illegally detain her husband are an abuse of the Constitution.

Freedom of movement She also asserts that she has been informed by Mr Birungi’s lawyers that if he is not released, he ought to be brought to court as soon as possible and not later than 48 hours from the time of arrest which has not been done. Ms Birungi says her husband is a citizen, regional businessman and a manufacturer of Movit cosmetic products and deserves his freedom of movement.

BIRUNGI’S ARRESTAccording to the police, Mr Birungi was arrested on Monday last week by ISO operatives. The ISO operatives later handed him over to police and he was detained at Kireka Special Investigations Directorate, former Violent Crime Crack Unit, for alleged murder of his former manager, Stephen Asaba, in 2010. But he was released on police bond and re-arrested by ISO. Asaba was murdered and his body dumped in Nakawuka in Kajjansi Town Council, Wakiso District.